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2020-09-01

USS St. Louis Joins U.S. Navy

The U.S. Navy recently commissioned Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS St. Louis (LCS 19) at a private event due to public health safety concerns and restrictions on large public gatherings due to COVID-19.

St. Louis is the 22nd LCS to be delivered to the Navy, and the 10th of the Freedom-variant to join the fleet and is the seventh ship to bear the name.

Participating in the ceremonial flyover for the commissioning of the Navy’s newest littoral combat ship included two MH-60R, assigned to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 60 and HSM-70, based out of Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville. Primary missions of the MH-60R include anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, surveillance, communications relay, combat search and rescue, naval gunfire support and logistics support.

“Nearly 200 years after the first ship to bear the name was launched, we recently commissioned the seventh USS St. Louis,” said Secretary of the Navy Kenneth J. Braithwaite.

The first St. Louis, a sloop of war, was launched in 1828. It spent the majority of its service patrolling the coasts of the Americas to secure interests and trade. In addition, it served as the flagship for the West Indies Squadron working to suppress piracy in the Caribbean Sea, the Antilles and the Gulf of Mexico region.

Braithwaite added: “Much like that sloop of war did in 1828, LCS-19 and her crew will protect the U.S. and our interests near and abroad. Whether conducting counter-narcotic operations in the Caribbean or working to enhance interoperability with partners and allies at sea, USS St. Louis will provide manoeuvrability, stability and lethality in today’s era of Great Power Competition.”

Adm. Craig Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command, said littoral combat ships, like the St. Louis, have played an important role supporting operations in his command’s geographic area of focus.

“The littoral combat ship has proven to be an effective and adaptable platform capable of multiple missions in our area of responsibility,” Faller said. “It has become an end-game enabler for U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement authorities who disrupt transnational criminal organisations and the smuggling of deadly narcotics. Adding the LCS to our Enhanced Counter Narcotics Operation is helping save lives.”

While Rear Adm. Brad Cooper II, Commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic, welcomed the ship that brings capabilities to counter diesel submarine, mines, and fast surface craft threats to the world’s premier Surface Force.

Critical Tool

The Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is a resilient, flexible warship, designed from the keel up to affordably take on new capabilities including advanced sensors, missiles and cutting-edge cyber systems. Its speed, strength and versatility make it a critical tool to help sailors achieve their missions.

The LCS is a fast, agile and networked surface combatant, and its primary mission includes countering diesel submarine threats, littoral mine threats and surface threats to assure maritime access for joint forces.

The underlying strength of the LCS lies in its innovative design approach, applying modularity for operational flexibility. Fundamental to this approach is the capability to rapidly install interchangeable mission packages (MPs) onto the seaframe to fulfil a specific mission and then be uninstalled, maintained and upgraded at the Mission Package Support Facility (MPSF) for future use aboard any LCS seaframe.

More than a third of the hull is open and ready to take on new capability. The LCS Mission Control Center (MCC) is enabled with the COMBATSS-21 Combat Management System. This system is built from Aegis Common Source Library and drives commonality among the fleet.

The missiles onboard LCS are part of a surface warfare capability package that can be added to LCS. With 40 per cent reconfigurable hull space, LCS can defeat today’s threats and evolve to meet future threats.

Freedom variant LCS are standard equipped with Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM), SeaRAM (17 and follow) and a Mark 110 gun that fires 220 rounds per minute. The aircraft hangar has space for two H-60 helicopters or one MH 60 helicopter and one unmanned aerial vehicle. Three topside reconfigurable spaces allow for flexible armament including guns and missiles. The flight deck is more than 1.5 times larger than most U.S. Navy surface combatants. Water jets enable agile manoeuvring and top speeds of 40+ knots.

Reference text/Photo:
www.navy.mil

www.lockheedmartin.com

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